Houghton-le-Spring, holy well

HER Number:
270

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Houghton-le-Spring, holy well

Place:
Houghton-le-Spring

Map Sheet:
NZ35SW

Class:
Water Supply and Drainage

Site Type: Broad:
Well

Site Type: Specific:
Holy Well

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Nothing is known about how or when the name 'holy well' came to be attached to the well in Newbottle Lane appearing under that name on the first edition Ordnance Survey plan (c. 1860).The name is said to have been imposed upon it in the year 700, when the Venerable Bede and his attendants passed through Houghton and drank rom the well (other sources refer to it as 'Bede's Well'). By 1958 it had disappeared, presumably filed-in or covered over.

Easting:
3399

Northing:
5032

Grid Reference:
NZ33995032

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 270 >> Dept. Pal. & Dip. Durham, Ordnance Survey Maps, 1858, - 1st ed. 1:2500 Durham XIII.16 Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend, 1888, April, p. 149 Rev. P.B.G. Binnall & M.H. Dodds, 1947, Holy Wells in Northumberland and Durham, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 4, X (for 1942-46), p. 82 Ordnance Survey archaeological record cards, WHD, 1958, Holy Well (site of)